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ATTENTION WYANDOTTE CITIZENS!

Please contact Dana at the tribal center and update your mailing address today. If you are receiving the tribal newsletter your records are up to date. Information has been mailed out regarding a new supplemental healthcare benefit! Call your family members and have them update their mailing addresses too.

Chief Bearskin's ultimate vision was to provide healthcare to all Tribal Citizens. It has taken several years and a lot of work by many people, now through the final efforts of Chief Friend we are seeing Chief Bearskin’s dream become a reality for ALL Tribal Citizens nationwide!

What History Says

“Of all the savage allies of Great Britain in the West, the Wyandots were the most powerful. This arose not so much from the number of their warriors, as from their superior intelligence. Their long association with the French at Detroit, and, after that post fell into the possession of Great Britain, with its later occupants, had advanced them in many respects over the surrounding nations.”
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Butterfield, C. W. An Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky Under Col. William Crawford In 1782. Cincinnati: Robert Clarke & Co, 1873. print. (164-5)

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Wyandotte History Brochure

Are the Wyandotte Huron?

Many people ask the question, “Are the Wyandotte Huron?” History states that we are predominately of the Tionontati tribe and the Tionontati were never admitted into the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy; however, we do have connections to the Huron through the Attignawantan who were the founding tribe of the Huron. The Wyandotte Nation consists of remnants of the Tionontati, Attignawantan and Wenrohronon (Wenro), all unique independent tribes, who united in 1649-50 after being defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy. A simple answer to a very complicated question is no, the Wyandotte Nation was not part of the Huron Confederacy proper as the Wyandotte truly didn’t exist until after the fall of the Huron Confederacy.

1534-1842

HISTORY TIMELINE

By Sallie Cotter Andrews

1534

First Contact. French explorer Cartier visits the Laurentian (Saint Lawrence Iroquois) at Hochelaga along the St. Lawrence River.

1615

Champlain meets the Wendat (Huron) on his exploratory expedition to Wendake, the ancestral homeland of the Wendat. In the area southeast of the Georgian Bay, north of Lake Simcoe, the Wendat numbered about 20,000 people distributed in 18 towns and villages, eight of which were palisaded.

1633

Jesuits in Wendake

1634

Onset of epidemics – mortality rate is 50%

1639

Nation is dreadfully scourged by an epidemic of smallpox. Half the population dies.

Father Jerome Lalemant states that the Wendat comprised “four nations” the general name that which is common..is Wendat..the individual names are Attignawantan (Bear), Attigneenongnahac (Cord), Arenahronons (Rock) and Atohontaenrat (Deer).

1640

Beaver and other furred animals had almost disappeared from the Iroquois country and the Iroquois who needed furs to trade to the Dutch began raids on the Wyandot trade routes.

1643-1715

France becomes a leading power in Europe under Louis XIV. Palace at Versailles becomes cultural center for outstanding writers, artists and scientists.

1648

War breaks out between the Mohawk and Seneca against the Huron. The Mohawk and Senecas have 500 to 600 guns. The Huron nation is scattered.

1649

Huron and Petun are decisively defeated and flee westward to Mackinac Island.

1650

First map showing all five Great Lakes is published by the Jesuits

300 Huron who had wintered on Christian Island go to Quebec accompanied by 60 Frenchmen from the abandoned Huron Mission.

1669

Father Jacques Marquette is sent by the French to take charge of the Roman Catholic Mission established at Point Saint Espirit to administer to the spiritual needs of the Wyandots. He estimated that the remnant of the tribe had been reduced to between 400 and 500 individuals.

1701

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac invites the Wyandots to settle near Detroit.

In August, Kondiaronk died at Montreal. All the bands recognized him as the leading man.

Many of the Detroit area Wyandots moved to the east or Canadian side of the river near the French Catholic Church property in Sandwich, which is now Assumption.

1723

Village established at Sandusky, Ohio

1725-30

Most Wyandots were in Ohio.

1730-41

Wyandots built villages down the Michigan side of the River from Wyandotte to Brownstown.

1742

Tacharian was chief. He was influential in Detroit and had been for over 40 years.

1745

Great war chief Orontony becomes discontented with the policies initiated by the French government and military. With a small band of Indians, Orontony travels to the region around Sandusky, Ohio.

1747

Chiefs in Ohio were Nicolas and Aniotin. They visited the Wyandots in Detroit that year.

1754-63

French and Indian War. (British drove French out of the Ohio Valley). General Edward Braddock and his British Regulars blaze their way into the Ohio country where they meet the combined forces of French and Indians. Among the force facing Braddock were the Wyandots who fought and defeated the British forces on July 9, 1755 near Fort Duquesne, PA.

1755

Adam Brown, Sr., white boy, is captured in West Virginia and taken to Detroit. He adopted there by the Wyandots.

Anastase was a Huron war chief from Lorette. He was leader of all the Indians who opposed General Braddock. Tribes included the Wyandot, Huron, Ottawa, Ojibway and Miami.

1759

Battle of Niagara

1761

Tishatoon is born – at age 40 she has a son, George Armstrong.

1763

Takay is chief of Detroit Wyandots. He favored joining Pontiac. Teata also a chief who opposed joining Pontiac. Baby, or Odinghquanooron, opposed Pontiac, but finally he and Teata went along. (Baby may have been called Sarahass at times.)

The fort at Sandusky was burned and never rebuilt.

1764

August 12 – Wyandots sign a treaty of peace with the British at Presque Isle, Pennsylvania. About 200 Wyandot warriors were present.

1770

Wyandot population is now about 3,000.

1776

Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is signed.

1780

A white man named Kuhn (also Zhau-Shoo-To) lived around Lower Sandusky. He was a warrior and village chief, but not chief of the nation.

Wyandots at Detroit ceded some land to Father Portier in appreciation of his many services and kindnesses.

1781

Many Wyandots sat in council with British and other tribes.

Moravian missionaries come preach to the Wyandots in Ohio.

1782

June 11 – Col. Crawford burned at the stake 7 miles northwest of Upper Sandusky.

1783

Robert Armstrong, white boy, is captured by the Wyandots near Pittsburgh.

American Revolution comes to an end. The United States of America is created.

1785

Treaty with the Wyandots at Fort McIntosh. Hostages to be given until prisoners are restored; Wyandots to acknowledge protection of US; Boundary lines established and reserves; no US citizen to settle on Indian lands; Post at Detroit and Michillimachenac reserved; robbers and murderers to be delivered to US; good to be distributed.

1786

Tarhe signs Treaty of Fort Finney.

John Stewart, of mixed race, is born in Powhatten County Virginia. As an adult in 1816, he became a missionary to the Wyandots in Ohio. He was taken into the home of Jonothan Pointer, a black man who in his youth had been kidnapped by the Wyandotts and adopted into the tribe and had learned the Wyandott language. Pointer served as an interpreter for Stewart. Between-The-Logs becomes one of the first converts.

1787

The Constitution of the United States is written in Philadelphia. James Madison is considered the Father of the Constitution.

1788

Tarhe (Porcupine Clan) is chosen as Chief in Ohio. He was never in complete control of Detroit Wyandots. Still in Detroit were Adam Brown, Walk-In-The-Water, William Walker, Sr.

Shendete (or Shandotto) was Detroit chief and respected elder.

1789

Treaty with the Wyandots made at Fort Harmar. Hostages held until 2 prisoners are restored; boundary line renewed and confirmed; Lands ceded; Indians at liberty to hunt on territory ceded to US. Murderers and robbers to be delivered for trial; persons stealing horses to be severely punished and horses reclaimed; trade with Indians opened and protection afforded to those licensed to reside among them; persons intruding without license to be apprehended and given up; notice of war against the US to be given; no US citizen shall settle on Indian land; trading posts established; Posts at Detroit and Michilimackinac reserved; peace and friendship renewed and confirmed; nations of the Potawatomies and Sacs taken into protection of US; Wyandots may dispossess the Shawanese if the latter will not be at peace; two Wyandot villages shall not be disturbed.

1790

Between-The-Logs is born. His father was a Seneca, his mother a Wyandot of the Bear Clan.

The Wyandot reservation on the Canadian side between Sandwich and Amherstberg of about 24,000 acres is established by the English for the Wyandots.

1791

Napoleon Bonaparte gains control of the French Revolution and government.

1793

Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.

1794

August 20 – Wyandots and Indian allies are soundly defeated in the Battle of Fallen Timbers by General Anthony Wayne.

1795

Treaty – Peace established; prisoners on both sides to be restored; boundary lines established; Cede land; cessation of passages in certain places by the Indians; annual allowance ($) to be made to the Indians; right to hunt on relinquished land; Indians may expel settlers from their lands; trade with Indians to be established; retaliation against US restrained; Indians to give notice of designs against the US; former treaties void.

Treaty – August 3 – Treaty of Greenville – Approximately 2/3 of the present state of Ohio is ceded to the government by the Indians. The Wyandots were to receive an annuity each year.

1796

American Quaker missionaries visit the Wyandots. In 1797 and 1799 members of the Society of Friends meet with the Wyandots, but a permanent mission is not established.

1800

Presbyterian Church sends two missionaries to the Wyandots and continues to send preachers until the War of 1812.

1803

Ohio becomes a state.

1806

Catherine (Katie) Quoqua is born near Fort Recovery on the St. Mary’s River in Ohio.

1807

Fulton builds first successful steamboat.

1810

Wyandot Chief Shateyaronyah a.k.a. Leatherlips is executed on June 1. Leatherlips and Tarhe were advocates for peace with the white settlers, and supporters of the 1795 Treaty of Greenville. Leatherlips was viewed as an obstacle to the tribal alliances against white settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains organized by Shawnee warrior Tecumseh. As a result, Tecumseh’s younger brother, Lalawethika a.k.a. Tenskwatawa or the Prophet, enlisted another Wyandot Chief Roundhead from the area of Tippecanoe, who was sent with five warriors to carry out the execution of Chief Leatherlips. A mock trial was held, Leatherlips was convicted of witchcraft and then he was executed and buried on the spot.

1812

There are three main settlements in the Detroit area including the Canadian side of the river. The three village chiefs were Walk-In-The-Water, Lame Hand, and Splitlog. The Wyandots in Michigan number about 1,300 people with about 200 on the Canadian side and about 1,500 in Ohio.

War of 1812 – Warrow becomes Village Chief of Canadian Wyandots at Detroit. John Hicks, a hereditary chief in Ohio serves on Tarhe’s tribal council. Other leaders in Upper Sandusky were Mononcue (a Methodist preacher), George Punch, Between-The-Logs (friend of Americans), and Matthew Peacock. Leatherlips lived near present day Columbus. Round Head was in process of moving to Gibraltar near Detroit. Nicholas Vincent is Chief at Lorette.

Shetoon (or Isadore Chesne), a French/Huron man hoped to succeed Half King as Chief, but the tribe wanted a full blood and chose Tarhe. During the War of 1812 the major portion of the tribe, led by Tarhe, supported the United States.

Roundhead dies.

1814

Treaty – Peace given to the Miami nation; aid to be given to the US in the war with Great Britain; Protection of US acknowledged; boundaries established.

1815

Treaty – Peace given to certain tribes following War of 1812; US pardons the hostilities of the Wyandots; Treaty of Greenville ratified and confirmed.

1816

Tarhe dies. Splitlog is considered Principal Chief of the Wyandots at Amherstburg. There are slightly over 100 in the band there.

Mathias Splitlog (Cayuga-Seneca) is born in Canada. He married Eliza Barnett (Wyandot), daughter of John Barnett and Hannah Charloe, and came west with the Wyandot Nation.

1817

Treaty (a copy of this treaty on leather is now at the Gilcrease Museum in Tulsa). – September – Wyandots agree to relinquish over three million acres of land to the government for an annual sum of $4,000. Wyandots agree to relocate to a reserve near Upper Sandusky.

Treaty – Cession of lands by the Wyandots; annual payments ($4000 annually forever); annuities under all other treaties shall be paid; “schedule” (appropriation of land) to be part of the treaty; grants in fee simple to the Wyandots for use of the land; land granted to Catharine Walker and her son John for their wounds in service to the US; land set aside for Cherokee Boy adopted by the Wyandots; agents to be appointed for Wyandots; Sawmill, grist mill and blacksmith to be provided to the Wyandots; right to hunt and make sugar; Wyandots to receive $4319.39 for property destroyed in the War of 1812; treaty obligatory when ratified.

Between-The-Logs, Da-Un-Qua-Et and Scotash go from Ohio to Washington DC on tribal business.

1818

Cumberland Road is built form Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, West Virginia.

Treaty – The grants in the treaty of 1817 to be considered only as reservations for the use of the Indians; additional reservation for the Wyandots; reservation at Solomon’s Town; additional annuities to the Wyandots ($500 annually forever); treaty to take affect when ratified by the President of the US and with the consent of the Senate.

Treaty – Cession of two tracts of land in Michigan – including Brownstown and Maguagua (5000 acres of land); reservation of land for use of the Wyandots south of the river Huron.

1819

Steamships begin to cross the Atlantic. Trip now takes 15 days compared to sailing, which took 30 to 40 days.

1820

War Chief Quoqua and his band left their homes at Brownstown and settled on the banks of the Huron River. They received a 50-year lease for their reserve from General Cass.

1821

Rev. James B. Finley sent by the Methodist Conference to start the mission school at Upper Sandusky. John Stewart taught a class at the Big Springs Reserve. John Stewart died Dec. 18, 1823. “Be Faithful” were his last words.

1822

Charles Elliott from Ireland comes as a missionary to the Wyandotts at Upper Sandusky.

1824

Wyandot request to send delegates to Washington is rejected by the new BIA.

Wyandot Mission Church is built in Upper Sandusky and is used by the Wyandot people until 1843. It was the first mission in America of the Methodist denomination, and the school was reportedly one of the first vocational schools and the first coeducational school.

1825

Steam railway begins operation.

Niepce invents photography.

Erie Canal opens.

1826-27

James Gilruth from Scotland comes as a missionary to the Wyandotts at Upper Sandusky. Later in 1827 Russell Bigelow comes. His daughter, Lucy, marries a Wyandott – John McIntire Armstrong and moves with the nation to Kansas.

1827

Between-The-Logs dies and is buried at the Mission Church at Upper Sandusky.

1828

Wyandots at Ohio (approximately 525 at Big Spring) change their form of government to Principal Chief and seven Council Members.

1831

James B. Gardiner of the War Department authorizes six Wyandots to venture to western Missouri to explore for a suitable reservation. William Walker leads the delegation, but no good site is found.

1832

Wyandots refuse to sign treaty providing for removal and also turned down a trip to Washington, DC.

Treaty – Wyandots cede Big Spring Serve of Jan. 19. One of the leaders who signed was Bearskin. Sale of land; US agrees to pay for improvements; 320 acres to be reserved for Roe-nu-nas, one of the oldest chiefs and his improvements; removal to Canada or Michigan proposed; special subagent requested; treaty binding when ratified by the President of the US and Senate.

Treaty – Land ceded to US including cranberry swamp; land to be surveyed and sold with expenses defrayed out of the sale of the land; money for rebuilding of roads, schools, mills, etc., to be provided; method for sale and payment established; certain other former reservations now to be sold.

1837

Morse invents the telegraph.

1838

Frances Hicks is Principal Chief at Ohio. Splitlog dies at Amherstberg and is succeeded by Mondoron (or Joseph White) who remains chief at Amherstberg until 1885.

Mary McKee is born on Huron River in Michigan, daughter of Thomas McKee and Katie Quoqua.

1839

Wm. Walker, Sr., elected Principal Chief.

Two delegations of Wyandots are sent to the trans-Mississippi West to explore the region and to consider various regions for a possible new reservation. They traveled through what is now the Northeastern corner of Oklahoma. Henry Jacques, Matthew Walker, John Sarahass, Sr., Tall Charles, and Summundoowot made up the expedition. They went overland by horse to Cincinnati, and by steamboat toward New Orleans. They got off at the junction of the Mississippi and Arkansas rivers and waited for a steamboat to take them up the Arkansas River into Indian Territory. They toured Little Rock and visited the new state capital. They traveled on the John Jay to Fort Gibson. They found the countryside and the climate “not such rich country as we wanted. Much less to exchange for our country at home.” When they reached the Seneca reserve in Indian Territory, they found it better. The Senecas warmly welcomed them by laying down white cloth, giving them white cloth to wipe their brows, wampum was presented, there was a dance and a ballgame. The delegation then went to Westport, Kansas, and the Delaware and Shawnee reserves. They returned home with a good report. A second delegation arrived in Westport on Nov. 7, including Joel Walker, Principal Chief Francis Hicks and six others. On Dec. 18 a draft treaty with the Shawnees is prepared for the purchase of a portion of their reserve by the Wyandots of Upper Sandusky.

1840

January 14 – Exploring party returns to Upper Sandusky. June 8 – US Senate rejects the proposed treaty.

Summundoowot and his wife are murdered in Henry County, Ohio. Letter from Isaac Zane to Rev. Finley verifies the date and details.

1842

On March 17, treaty signed to leave Ohio. 4,996 acres are surrendered in Michigan and 109,144 acres in Ohio. Grant of land west of the Mississippi to contain 148,000 acres owned by the US to be set apart for Indian use, and not already assigned to any other tribe or nation. Provision for annuity, school, payment for improvements to Ohio land; debts to be paid off; Wyandots may stay on their land until 4/1/1844 provided they do not destroy their lands and improvements; blacksmith, subagent and interpreter to aid Wyandots; payment of $10,500 to be paid when Wyandots leave; land granted (640 acres each) to certain persons of the tribe but never to be conveyed to them or their heirs without the permission of the President of the US. Payment to Wm. Walker, Joel Walker and John Armstrong for services rendered as interpreters and negotiators and Warpole for traveling to Washington. Payment to Catharine Walker for loss of her property by the US forces ($3000). Reservation established to cover Mission Church and cemetery at Upper Sandusky.